THE SABBATH WAS MADE FOR MAN

And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and          His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain. The Pharisees were saying to Him, "Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"

And He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry; how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?" Jesus said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

(Mark 2: 23-28 NASV)

Not long after this event, the Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign that would prove He was the Messiah. His reply was that the only sign He would provide would be the Sign of Jonah.

    The Holy Spirit showed me a truth about the Sign of Jonah. While researching that, this truth about Sabbath came to me. I came to see that how the Pharisees misunderstood the Sabbath led to their opposition to Jesus, and their request for a sign. Exploring their view of the Sabbath led me to a fuller understanding of the Sabbath. I saw enough truth to see that it could stand as a teaching on its own, and yet it remains part of the context for the Sign of Jonah.

A Kernel Of Truth From The Grainfields

(Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun!)

   This event starts with Jesus and His disciples passing through some grainfields on a Sabbath day.  We are not told where they were going, but most likely they were on their way to a synagogue Sabbath service.

    The Disciples were hungry, so they began picking some of the grain.

    Now, the grain was not the sweet corn we are familiar with in America.  I know the KJV uses the word “corn” instead of “grain.”  In the Elizabethan English used in the King James, “corn” just simply meant grain. The grain the Disciples ate could have been any kind of grain except for American corn, or maize. American corn is not native to the land of Israel, and is not grown there today.

    I can only wish the Disciples had been blessed to enjoy American corn!   I grew up experiencing the pleasures of Bixby corn.

    Bixby is a farming community south of Tulsa.   Some of the farms there sell produce all year around, but the best time to go there is in June when the corn is in season.  The corn you would buy during that time would be FRESH!   They would start picking it that morning, and it would be so sweet and flavorful!

    You would go buy a bushel, take it home, clean it, cook it, and eat it.  Then you would go back the next day for another bushel!  Or at least you would want to... It's that good!

     Most likely the Disciples ate barley or wheat.  Barley is more robust and more suited than wheat to the climate and soil the land of Israel, so the people tended to eat barley daily, and they saved wheat for special occasions and purposes.

    Now, Jesus didn't eat any grain, but His disciples did.   Why didn't Jesus eat?   He was probably fasting.   After all, He was doing more ministry than they were at that time, so He needed to fast.

    Some Pharisees saw what the Disciples were doing, and they didn't like that at all!   They knew what the Sabbath commandment said, and in their eyes, the Disciples were violating the Sabbath.

    To summarize, the Sabbath commandment said, “Remember the Sabbath; Keep it holy; Do no work.”

    The Pharisees focused on that last part of the commandment.   They did so because, in their natural, carnal reasoning, they focused on tangible things that one can perceive through the five physical senses.

    To them, if something looked like work, sounded like work, felt like work, or smelled like work, it was work.

    Picking grain definitely looked like work.

    Sometimes work produces sounds, but not always.   But work will still sound like work when described.  Today, many people use computers to do their work in offices. The only sounds they produce are tapping on keys, or mouse clicks, talking on the phone, or maybe that print out something.  None of that sounds much like work.   But if someone says they updated five spreadsheets and wrote three reports that day, then we would say that sounds like work!

    Sometimes people come home smelling like work, and I'm not just talking about sweat and dirt.  Auto mechanics smell like grease.  Food production or preparation workers smell like the food they work around.

    So, the Pharisees, following their reasoning that was based only on what their senses told them, concluded that the Disciples had violated the Sabbath.

    Notice this, the Pharisees didn't confront the Disciples. They confronted Jesus about His disciples' actions. Why did they confront Him, and not them?

    Of course, Jesus was their leader.  As their leader, He was responsible for His disciples' actions.  But the Pharisees wanted to know what kind of leader Jesus was.  Behind their accusation was a question: Are you going to correct Your disciples' behavior, or are You going to condone it?

    Jesus knew they misunderstood the Sabbath, and He knew HOW they misunderstood the Sabbath. The beginning of of their misunderstanding was their failure to see the difference between the Sabbath and the Sabbath commandment.

    That is the Kernel of Truth from the grainfields: The Sabbath commandment and the Sabbath are not the same!

Illustrating The Difference

Jesus attempted to show the Pharisees the difference in His answer to their accusation.

First, He reminds them of an episode from the life of David that is recorded in I Samuel 21.

    in that story, David is fleeing from King Saul, and he comes to where the sanctuary is set up.   David has a few men with him and they were hungry when they arrived.   So David spoke with the priest in charge.  The priest told David the only food on hand at the time was the consecrated bread that only the priests were allowed to eat.  The priest gave David and his companions some of this holy bread, and they did not get in trouble for eating it!

    In Matthew's account, Jesus also points out that the priests have duties they must perform in the sanctuary every day, even on the Sabbath, and they are not accountable for violating the Sabbath commandment.

    Obviously, the Sabbath has some trait, characteristic, or aspect that goes beyond the Sabbath commandment.  What could that be?

    The only clue Jesus gives us is this: The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath; so the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.

    Before exploring the wider view of the Sabbath, let me summarize the narrow view of the Pharisees: They saw the Sabbath commandment as a restriction on activity.

 

Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.  For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house.  For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.   Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house--whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end. Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,

           "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,

           DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME,

           AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS,

        WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me,

        AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS.

          THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION,

          AND SAID, 'THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART

          AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS';

          AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH,

         'THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.' "

    Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.   But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.  For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while it is said,

          "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,

           DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS,

           AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME."

     For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?  And with whom was He angry for forty years?  Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?  And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?   So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.

   Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.   For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.  For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said,

           "AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH,

            THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,"

although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.   For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day:

          "AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS";

and again in this passage,

          "THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST."

    Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, "Today," saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before,

           "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,

           DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS."

   For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.  For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.  Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.

(Heb. 3:1 - 4:11 NASV)

 

Expanding Our View Of The Sabbath

This passage in Hebrews gives a larger view of the Sabbath beyond a day where activity is restricted.

    The passage begins by comparing Jesus and Moses.  Moses was just a servant, a steward over the house of God at the time – the nation of Israel.  As a steward, he had authority because he was given authority.  As a son, Jesus was born with authority.

    But Moses didn't complete the job God had given him. God's intention was for Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt all the way to take possession of Canaan.

    The generation of adults that left Egypt did not make it to the Promised Land.  They had allowed unbelief to harden their hearts against God's command to take the land.  The only thing God could do with that generation was to keep them in the wilderness until they all passed away from old age.

    But notice what God said about them in chapter 4, verse 11 ( a quote of Psalm 95:11): they would not enter into His rest.

    Did you catch that?  God was talking about why they would not enter the LAND, but He said they would not enter into His REST!

    So, God equated land with rest. What does that have to do with the Sabbath?

    Take a closer look at chapter 4, verses 3 and 4.   Those verses point us back to the beginning.  God's rest started back then, when He finished Creation.

 

God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.  And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.  Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.  By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.  Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

(Gen. 1:31 - 2:3 NASV)

Back To The Beginning

I included the last verse of Genesis 1 to emphasize that God had spent six days in creation. We could also say that He spent six days in production, or making, or productive activity.

    On the seventh day, God rested.  Why did He rest?  Was He tired?

    NO! Psalm 121:4 says, “Behold, He who keeps Israel will never slumber nor sleep.”

    How can a God Who is All-Powerful sleep?  Why would He need to?   How could He get tired?

    God never needs a good night's sleep. He doesn't even need to doze off, or take a cat nap.

    Now, if God doesn't need to sleep or slumber, why did He rest that day?  Because He was DONE with His works.

           Gen. 2:1 – the heavens and the earth were completed.

           Gen. 2:2 – God completed His work

         ... which He had done.

        He rested from all His work,

        … which He had done.

          Gen. 2:3 – He rested from all His work

        … which God had created

        … and made.

   I listed these items on separate lines to illustrate that God rested on the Sabbath because HE WAS DONE!

But Wait! There's More!

We have not yet reached a full understanding of the Sabbath.

    So far, I have focused on activity.   The Pharisees saw the Sabbath commandment as a restriction on activity.   We now see that God rested on the first Sabbath because He had completed His productive activity in the six days of Creation.

    But, was God inactive on that first Sabbath?

    Did He sit down in a recliner, put up His feet, tune in some football or other sports, and have the angels bring Him snacks and drinks?  We can safely say He did none of that.

    I have a hard time seeing God as inactive... ever.

    Let's think globally for a moment.  Let's say that for one moment, every person on earth is awake, and everyone starts praying to God at once.   God would hear every prayer, and begin answering every prayer prayed in faith.

    I think just from this example, you can see just how active God is.

    If God wasn't inactive on that first Sabbath, then what did He do that day?

    Let's consider the time line of events relating to the Creation and the Sabbath.

    We have already seen the six days of Creation. Gen. 1.

    On the sixth day, God created Adam. Gen. 1:26 – 31; 2:7.

    God created Adam as His son. Luke 3:38.

    The seventh day, God rested. Gen. 2:1 – 3.

    The Sabbath commandment was not given until God gave Moses the Law. Exodus 20:8 – 11.

    So, we can easily see that the Sabbath existed long before the commandment.  We also see that Man existed before the Sabbath. Does this relate to what Jesus said about the Sabbath being made for Man?  Short answer – YES!

    What does this have to do with what God did on that first Sabbath?

    Remember, God created Adam as His son.  If Adam was God's son, then God was Adam's Father.

    God is a good father.   A good father spends time with his son, especially when his son is new!

    Imagine this: God creates Adam on day six, and then God says to Adam, “Sorry, son, but I've got to go rest up for a while.  See you the day after tomorrow!”

    You know that is not an accurate picture of God.  He would not create a son for Himself, and then leave him on his own for his first full day of existence.

    Yes, the Sabbath was Adam's first full day of life.  And God spent time that day in fellowship with him!

    So, God was not inactive that first Sabbath.  Instead, He just changed His focus away from work, or creation, or production, to family fellowship with His son Adam.

Conclusions

When Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath,” He meant the following:

God created the Sabbath for man's benefit, and He never intended the Sabbath to be a religious pattern that man had to shoehorn himself into.

God never intended the Sabbath to be a restriction on activity, but a change in the focus away from creative, productive work to family fellowship.  Through the Sabbath commandment, God was telling His people to step away from everyday work to spend time with Him.

When Jesus said, “The Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath,” He changed the Sabbath from a day to a person – Himself!